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Talking Tillman and Rays lineup

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - I drove through the worst rainstorm of my life to get here. Those tornado warnings are no joke.

I was gripping the steering wheel so tightly, it's almost bent in half. Good luck with that one, Avis.

I was pretty sure a traffic light turned green, but I couldn't move. Visibility was at an all-time low. But at least the water on the streets covered my tires.

My GPS told me to turn right, and I yelled, "Where's the right?"

I didn't need a GPS. I needed a lifeguard and a flotation device.

Pitching coach Mark Connor texted Chris Tillman yesterday to inform the right-hander that he was starting Sunday's game at Tropicana Field.

"They actually texted me because we really didn't know what was going on," Tillman said. "They had a meeting after intrasquad. They texted me to tell that they'd rather tell me in person, but that's the way it had to be done. I'm excited, you know? I think we worked hard all spring, with Rick (Adair) and Mark. I'm really excited for Sunday."

Tillman feels like he's ready to go after throwing yesterday.

"Yesterday, I actually had a really good bullpen session, so after that, I feel fine," he said. "Coming off the start before that, if you had asked me after that, I would have said, 'no'. but Mark and Rick worked hard with me the whole spring. We had a great bullpen yesterday, so I'm real encouraged after that, I think we made some improvements from that bullpen."

Tillman began last season at Triple-A Norfolk after losing his rotation spot to David Hernandez.

"This is huge," Tillman said. "You know, I came in last year and I was in kind of the same position, battling. Coming in this spring, kind of the same situation. I wanted to work hard in the offseason and carry over the momentum last season, I think that helped me tremendously in the offseason. Coming into the spring, I wanted to carry it over. I think that went well."